History Main / DramatisPersonae

* The Amazing Karnak, a mechanical FortuneTeller who narrates ''Theatre/RideTheCyclone'', gives the audience an "introduction" to each of the six other characters before they're allowed to sing their signature song. The introduction includes the character's full name, birthdate, star sign, favorite amusement park ride, {{Catchphrase}}, and a quick recap of their life story. The in-story justification for this is that The Amazing Karnak has legit psychic powers, and that he read each teenager's fortune shortly before they all died in a tragic roller coaster accident. This story device gets subverted when it's Jane Doe's turn to sing; she was the only teen who didn't stop to have her fortune told, so The Amazing Karnak has no idea who she is.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' and ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' both throw a list of the characters over the opening. [[spoiler: They also play around with this a bit - certain important characters are shown, but the names are withheld.]] Baccano [[spoiler: gives AxeCrazy Claire Stanfield aka [[ShroudedInMyth The Rail Tracer]] [[IHaveManyNames aka]] [[PsychoForHire Vino]] aka [[SacrificialLamb The Young Conductor]] the same amount of screen time as every other character, but withholds his name and successfully tricks the audience into assuming he's just an extra.]] Something similar is true for ''Durarara''[='s=] first opening, which [[spoiler: withholds the name of another character, but this time it clearly shows that the character will be important - it does the same freeze frame that the other characters get, but leaves out the name. This is promptly subject to FridgeBrilliance followed by a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]: At first we think her name isn't listed because it's already been shown for another character, then we realize that isn't actually true. The second opening shows her actual name.]]

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' Saga book 4, ''Breaking Dawn'' has a character sheet at the end (characters are divided according to their vampire covens).

'''Betty Hutton''' a Star replacement who doesn't sell tickets (''Fade Out–Fade In'')\\

* The ''[[http://shakespearelang.sourceforge.net/report/shakespeare/ Shakespeare programming language]] is an esotoric programming language[[note]]i.e. not designed to be practical[[/note]] that's written like a Shakespeare play. It requires a dramatis personae for its variable declaration or it won't compile at all.

This stemmed from the necessity of casting a play, and has somehow drifted into fiction from there; the end credits roll of a movie or TV show evolved from this practice too. Usually lists them by name with a short description, most often relaying who is related to whom. In works which fit into a large continuity with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters (such as comic books), this helps the reader keep up with the characters involved in the work.

* Every volume of ''Manga/BattleRoyale'' opens with a page showing the full class roster, with the faces of the dead marked off. The list of names not greyed out gets very short, very quickly. This is largely necessary due to the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, it can be hard to keep up.

* Many books by Creator/DavidWeber include this at the back. Given his [[{{Doorstopper}} writing]] [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters style]], some of these get to be ''several'' pages long. Case in point: the ''{{Literature/Safehold}}'' series. In the second book, it's ten pages long. By the 6th, it's ''forty-one''.

* The ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' novels by Jacqueline Carey have LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and therefore have a dramatis personae that can go on for pages and pages.

* The ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' and its related side stories by Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont each open with a Dramatis Personae (explicitly labelled as such). In the later books of the series, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters these can stretch over many pages]].
* Given the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters in George RR Martin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the epic Dramatis Personae at the end of each volume is very helpful.

* Rather necessary in David Weber's ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series of books, as his series now has [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters more characters than a large country]].

* A couple of whodunits by the Polish writer Anna Chmielewska begin with a list of characters--a good thing, since they tend to have LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

* Most if not all ongoing ''Shonen Sunday'' series, most notably ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', put bite-sized introductions to the main cast in the margins of the first page on any new chapter.

* The characters of ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812'' are introduced sequentially in the opening song "Prologue".

* Novels by Erle Stanley Gardner (aka A. A. Fair).

* Most if not all ongoing ''Creator/ShonenSunday'' series, most notable ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', put bite-sized introductions to the main cast in the margins of the first page on any new chapter.

* Collected volumes of ''Manga/OnePiece'' have a special section called "The Story of One Piece" meant for just this, along with [[LastTimeOn recapping the story so far]]. Interestingly, every single volume includes Shanks in this section, when statistically speaking [[OutOfFocus he shows up in less than 10% of the manga]].
* Most if not all ongoing ''Manga/ShonenSunday'' series, most notable ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', put bite-sized introductions to the main cast in the margins of the first page on any new chapter.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' essentially starts off with one in the form of the class roster, introducing all of the girls in Negi's class. As the manga goes on, it also has brief character introductions at the beginning of each chapter.

* ''{{LightNovel/Durarara}}'' and ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' both throw a list of the characters over the opening. [[spoiler: They also play around with this a bit - certain important characters are shown, but the names are withheld.]] Baccano [[spoiler: gives AxeCrazy Claire Stanfield aka [[ShroudedInMyth The Rail Tracer]] [[IHaveManyNames aka]] [[PsychoForHire Vino]] aka [[SacrificialLamb The Young Conductor]] the same amount of screen time as every other character, but withholds his name and successfully tricks the audience into assuming he's just an extra.]] Something similar is true for ''Durarara''[='s=] first opening, which [[spoiler: withholds the name of another character, but this time it clearly shows that the character will be important - it does the same freeze frame that the other characters get, but leaves out the name. This is promptly subject to FridgeBrilliance followed by a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]: At first we think her name isn't listed because it's already been shown for another character, then we realize that isn't actually true. The second opening shows her actual name.]]

* ''Comicbook/XMen'' occasionally did this during the 70s and 80s as their cast of characters expanded. Same for ''Comicbook/TheAvengers''.

* The TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/HorusHeresy books include a list of all the people in it at the beginning to help keep track of who is part of what group.

* A trait of Creator/Suda51 is to introduce characters this way. One of the most memorable is ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}''.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The playbill in the original production of ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'' had a page listing the main charecters and their relationships to each other, in case anyone got confused.

* The Archie-published ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' comics generally do a quick list of all the characters who feature in each particular issue.

** In fact, a variation on this was used in every Marvel comic published for a while in the late 90s.

->'''Cause it's [[Literature/WarAndPeace a complicated Russian novel]]\\

* The credits page for ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'''s website lists the cast this way, with classical theatre-style titles for every character in the game.

* The first episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' also does this, when the team (except Sophie) is first introduced. In seasons two and three, a shortened version appears as the opening credits.
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "Counterweight" does this at the ''end'', presumably as {{Filler}}.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' plays its opening title as clips of how the Machine sees the world, with the main cast showing up with no names, just brief descriptions.

* ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'' does this in its first pages, and then again in the third issue, after all the players were properly introduced.

** Also ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', in-story, with its parody of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''.

->''Cause it's [[Literature/WarAndPeace a complicated Russian novel]]\\

-- '''Company''', ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812'', "Prologue"